


Spirit of Winter

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-08
Updated: 2016-09-08
Packaged: 2018-08-13 21:15:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7986469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of Brighteye's parents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spirit of Winter

Every winter, the winter spirits rode on their steeds through Golden Hills Valley. The gates were closed during that time, the iron in the bars repelling the spirits. They could not travel over the sea either, the steeds only being able to gallop across land.

The black mare liked to watch the winter spirits as they rode across the land. Sometimes, it was only a few winter spirits among a herd of the steeds. They rested during the days, when the sun threatened their wintry origins. She had watched them since she was a filly, and had always wanted to run with them someday.

One evening, as the sun set and the winter spirits began to wake their steeds, a stallion broke off from the herd and trotted over to the mare. He had noticed her watching, night after night. They touched noses, and the mare felt the kiss of winter for the first time. It shuddered through her body, but it felt nice.

When the winter spirits left at the touch of spring, the stallion went with them. The mare returned to her life of grazing at the yellowish grasses of the valley and moving with her herd, keeping well away from the humans. Despite the chill that now accompanied her, and the white spot on her nose where the spirit had first touched her, she was not shunned. Her herd still ran with her, even allowing her to be one of the lead mares as the months went on.

The seasons passed and winter returned, bringing with it the winter spirits. This time, the stallion immediately broke off from his herd and approached the mare. They nuzzled, and their herds gave them room to be alone. The winter spirit told his mate all about his travels. When they were not spreading winter through Jorvik, the winter spirits lived in a frozen valley where no human had set foot for centuries. The mare longed to travel with them, but the cold would surely kill her.

The cold remained with her after the stallion left. Her herd tried to keep her close, but the cold that she radiated frightened them away. Nobody wanted to sleep in a herd with a freezing cold mare. She slept on the outskirts instead.

Over time, the mare lost her herd. She began to travel alone, weighed down by the foal growing inside her. It felt like ice, but it was her foal. She loved it, and hoped that the cold would not do her any permanent damage. On lonely nights, she tried to think of the winter spirit steed who had left her with this gift.

Humans began to populate the valley. Before, the herd would have easily run away from them to hide in a place that humans could not easily get to. But now, without her herd, the mare was helpless against the groups of humans who set out to capture the wild horses.

The mare was fortunate to be caught by a kind man. He recognised her pregnant state, and was gentle with her. There was a robed man with him, one who placed warm hands on her cold belly. He said something in the language of the humans. The mare could not understand him, but he sounded excited. Both humans did. She trembled, sides heaving from the exertion of trying to get away from the humans. When the human spoke to her again, his voice was kind. He fed her something sweet, and the mare followed him into a strange cave on wheels. A curious human contraption. She did not know why she was tied up until the cave began to move. Then, she neighed and tried to buck, but could not move.

It was a shivering mare that was led out of the strange contraption. She blew air out through her nostrils, and the man made hushing noises. The mare jerked her head back as the man tried to touch her. She could hear strange horses, and smell strange scents. This was not her herd, this was not her home. She felt alone.

But the human was kind. He kept the mare until she foaled, trying to train her to hold a strange-smelling burden on her back. She did not like that, nor did she like having to carry a human on her back. Fortunately, the humans allowed her to rest while she nursed her foal. He was pure black, with a spot of white between his ears. Like his father, he was cold. The robed human brought more robed humans, and they were all very excited about the arrival of the foal.

The robed humans took the mare and her foal to another place. This one was much nicer, with many trees to shade her and a waterfall to provide fresh water. The water tasted magical. In fact, many things at this place tasted magical. The mare enjoyed raising her foal there.

When the foal was a few months old, however, he was taken from the mare. They called to each other, begging to be reunited. The humans complained about the noise but kept the two separated. And one day, the foal was gone. The mare tried to escape, but she was caught again.

Years passed. The mare was trained and put up for sale as soon as she was comfortable holding a human on her back. She began to understand human language. Apparently, she was in a place called ‘Valedale’. It sounded like a valley, which gave her some comfort. She could feel the particular winter magic not far off. Perhaps she was near the place where the winter spirits stayed when they were not spreading winter across Jorvik. She wanted to go there, but she feared that the cold might kill her. The humans couldn’t go there, either. She watched them, sometimes, riding up the side of the mountain on horses with thick fur covering their bodies. They always turned around at the top and came back.

One night, as the mare slept in her stall, a human approached her. It was a girl with hair the colour of flame, and eyes like the grass in the nearby fields.

“Hello, I am Sonja,” said the girl, patting the mare’s nose. “You must miss your son, huh?” The mare understood nothing, though her ears pricked at the mention of her son. “Want to go see him?” The mare pricked her ears forward and nosed at the girl’s hand. The girl laughed. “Come on, then.”

The girl didn’t seem to like the mare going fast. Much as the mare wanted to gallop, though, she slowed under the guidance of the girl on her back. She had been trained to respond to tongue clicks and heels and the leather pulling at the metal in her mouth. She sensed the tension in her rider, and stayed at a canter until she smelled something familiar.

“Okay, you can go now,” said the girl. Once she was safely on the ground, the mare trotted quickly over to the horses standing in the stalls. She recognised this place as the one where she had first been taken. And there was her foal, standing in a stall. She nuzzled him, grateful to be reunited with her son. He had become whiter as he had grown, the black seeming to melt off him. And he still felt so cold, like his father.

The mare stayed with him for as long as the girl was able to stay, and then she had to go back to Valedale. She learned, before she left, that her son was being kept in a place near Silverglade.

More time passed, and the mare smelled a familiar scent on the breeze one day. When her foal appeared, she nickered in delight. The foal, a stallion now, stepped towards her, whinnying. The human on his back walked off to talk to another human. When she returned, she opened the stall door and petted the mare.

The girl took the mare to another place. This one had a beach with lots of water, and the stable was full of other horses. But the mare was happy. She was reunited with her son at last. And, even though the mare was far from her original home, the human girl seemed to like going there. She often took the mare and her son back to the place where they had originally come from. The girl went there to visit her own father, she said. So it was like going home, for both human and horse.

Someday, the mare hoped, her winter stallion would return.


End file.
